What is your least favorite household chore, and to what lengths will you go to avoid doing it?
Mine is washing dishes.
If left to my own devices, I will let dishes collect for a week in my kitchen sink.
Fortunately, I have a dishwasher. And a wife, but she doesn't enjoy doing dishes either, but at least it's a shared misery.
Dishes would be the worst, though having a dishwasher it becomes emptying it. Still almost dishes.
But leaving anything in the sink is just making your life more difficult and the dishes doubly so. Your sink will be useless because there's things in it and washing anything means you have to dig out all the slimy dishes from the sink.
Sinks and corridors and doorways need to be kept clear at all times, otherwise they become unusable.
yep, a sink is a tool, not a place.
Cleaning the shower and having to deal with gf's hair
Raking leaves ranks up there. Rakes have to be one of the world's most unreliable yet unquestioned inventions of all time.
Then don't. Your local small mammals and insects will thank you.
I wish the same could be said about the locals.
Sounds like a gadget inventing opportunity!
I shall call it...... the vacuum cleaner!
sympathies; we have to rake relatively quickly due to the large number of trees and the constant rain (PNW). If you leave it on the ground it'll kill anything underneath, and if you leave it on the sidewalks or road it quickly becomes treacherously slippery slime piles. I look at it like: fuck, again, I just fucking raked, goddamnit, but if I don't it'll be even worse, fuck.
Also hate dishes, have wife. It works out because I do the chores she can't or hates, and vice versa.
Before that, my solution was to turn dishes into dish. Use one plate, one fork, one cup for everything. Quick wipe for dry meals, wash when actually dirty.
We are a mirror of you. I like to cook, husband doesn't mind dishes so he does the after-dinner cleanup. But yeah same thing, he is good at things I am not good at. I do garden, household AV and tech, finances, all the cooking, he does kitchen, remembers to change the filters in the air conditioner, maintains the cars, we outsource a lot of the other cleaning.
Most of the things I hate, I can automate.
A dishwasher means I only have to wash knives now.
A Roomba means I only have to vacuum the corners, stairs and under the table.
Nobody really appreciates how much hand washing sucks, so I'll mention washing machines too.
Gardening sucks, but you can pick plants so that you really only have to do it once a year.
My husband does dusting and windows, because he's 40cm taller than me and I'd need a stool to do it. In return I do the mopping (with a steam mop, because the mop-bots all kinda suck)
That just leaves hanging and folding laundry, which really isn't so bad, and I don't see a machine doing that (affordably) any time soon.
Cleaning the bathroom. Everything else is disliked equally, but the bathroom has a special place in hell.
I'm bad at cleaning in general. A year ago I hired a cleaning lady to come every other week and it has been such a game changer. It's worth every cent.
Same here. I am an indifferent housekeeper at best, can manage to cook without absolutely wrecking the kitchen but no chance of remembering everything that ought to be done. Husband does know how to do all that but we both work and want some free time, she can do in 2.5 hours everything that would take both of us a whole day to accomplish. One of the best decisions we ever made.
Plowing snownduring the winter.
Here where I live we get tons of snow. Waking up extra early during winter only to go out and lift 100shovels of snow is the least tempting thing in the mornings. Does make foe a good workout session though 😅
Does mowing count? I hate doing yardwork and I do it just often enough to not get a notice from the HOA.
The history of humanity hasn't experienced tyranny, injustice, and oppression like HOA edicts.
/jk I love my HOA. looks around
I sold my house and got a condo because I was over yard work and snow blowing.
I was actually really looking into a condo/townhouse for that very reason, but when I was home searching, the high monthly HOA dues and the fact that condo prices were practically the same as a house, plus the higher interest rate vs a SFH steered me away. We’ll see, maybe in time I’ll get tired of it and do the same as you.
two years ago we dug up the front lawn and replaced it with mulch, moss, and succulents. drainage is MUCH better, bees and hummingbirds live in the bushes next to the house, and it's so much nicer.
worth considering if your HOA won't bitch.
Yup, I am considering that and starting to budget for it. If the HOA is a bitch about it, I’ll do it in the backyard and cut my total mow time by at least 40%. It will also reduce my water bill.
I hate mowing but I do it because if I get someone else to do it they'll do it wrong.
Hire a gardener!
Laundry, specifically folding it. I have ADHD so my brain makes it out to be a much bigger task than it actually is. I hate it so so much.
I dated a girl who tossed underwear, socks, athletic pants, "house shirts", etc haphazardly into drawers. Reasoning was, doesnt matter if they wrinkle. She only hung up her shirts and whatnot. No folding.
Total game changer. Laundry is now the easiest chore I do.
I sort of do this, but it’s not super haphazard because otherwise the drawer doesn’t fit everything. So there is still folding involved. I should simplify my wardrobe…
I have a steam iron. If my tshirt needs to be wrinkle free, I can give it a quick steam day of.
cleaning the bathroom
I don't enjoy it, but it is satisfying to have done, and at least stays cleanish for a few days if not weeks; vacuuming the entryways and stairs, on the other hand, looks like ass twenty minutes later and takes approx 15 hours off my life. ugh.
Yea doing dishes is the worst. Sometimes after being stuffed I just want to chill but I’m just making matters worse since it’s harder to clean if it dried already. I also have a dish washer but not everything can go inside, like pans and such. This means they are constantly dirty and in the sink until I need them again (basically) lol.
Dishes and pans with dried on crud are the pits.
I always try to soak everything before throwing them in the dishwasher, and even then it takes a pre-scrub to make sure they come out clean.
Huh, whaddya mean? Pans go in the dishwasher just fine. Even nonstick stuff, these days.
edit: Unless you mean cast iron or carbon steel can't go in the dishwasher, yeah I get that!
I had the experience that the non stick coating is wearing fast if I do that. But tbh i didnt try in the last 10 years.
Getting the mail from the mailbox.
Last time I did, a huntsman the size of a small dog crawled out.
How I imagine you checking for mail...
Yeah that's pretty much it. After that I took gloves and a big fuck off sized can of spray.
All of them. But I do them all when they need to be done because that is my job in the household.
Scrubbing the stove, and I don't avoid it at all. I do it promptly when asked and so thoroughly that it doesn't need to be done again for a long time.
Laundry.
I don't know why I hate it, but it piles up until I can't avoid it
I think I actually like washing the dishes, strangely.
Putting stuff in place, which is an essential step for properly cleaning most stuff. Cleaning itself is easy-ish for me, organizing, or simply moving my shit so I can reach the dusty places is where I take way too fucking long.
Washing the motorcycle. I'm a daily rider, I don't have a pressure washer or garage, and I live in a country that salts the roads. I have to clean it often to get the salt off, in the cold, getting soaking wet. Miserable job.
I think the worst part is that I don't get to enjoy the clean bike as it will invariably rain the next day.
man I don't mind dishes, but vacuuming our 3 flights of stairs is fucking wretched. anyone got a rec on a vacuum that's great on stairs? please....
I enjoy my Dyson. Rechargeable and wall mounted. I can pick it up and go. I don't have 3 flights if stairs, so you might need a battery adapter and then use a power drill type battery for more power.
Most of them. I pay someone to do a lot the chores. Faster to list what I don't mind:
Most of the actual cleaning, not a fan.
Folding laundry. It makes me want to simplify my wardrobe down to like 3 identical sets of clothes and just hang them all. Maybe I should.
we did this when we moved houses - all the laundry gets hung, we have a small set of drawers in each closet that hold socks/undies/etc. when the fam brings down their laundry they bring down the empty hangers and it all gets hung right back up out of the dryer.
I'm married and my wife is currently unemployed so she is doing more of the chores. While she was employed I would've said laundry. I can't stand it.
I prefer short, but disgusting chores over long, boring chores. My wife is the opposite. She can't stand stuff like dishes.
Dishes. Have been known to throw them out over washing them. There is good kitchen ware and there is disposable supercenter kitchen ware. Some of the shit is cheaper than the soap to wash it lol.
